Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Seriously, what’s Mickey Arthur and Michael Clarke up to?
4 players suspended for not doing their assignment. To be honest, my jaws were left wide open when I first read about it. It seemed more like a Faking News or The Unreal Times article! But guess what, this is 100% true. Would you believe that?

“Four time world champion Australia have dropped Watson, James Pattinson, Mitchell Johnson and youngster Usman Khwaja for failing to make presentations in a team meeting as instructed by the team management.”

I should thank my
stars 'cause my engineering college professors weren't as strict as Mickey
Arthur. In my 4 years of B. Tech life, hardly did I submit any assignment!
(Most engineer’s would consider that as a feather in one’s cap ;) ). And in spite of that, I managed to get through it! Goodness gracious me. I was way better off than those
poor Aussie cricketers. They have become the laughing stock of the whole
cricketing fraternity. Well, my sympathies are with them…. just can’t
comprehend what they must be going through. There must be something more than
that meets the eye, to trigger such a reaction from the team management. I mean
writing reports isn't a player's virtue, they need to focus more on their on
field performances. By the way, Johnson and Khwaja weren't even in the playing
XI. Expecting them to do a performance analysis is a bit too much. It's a
little over the top reaction. In fact, I believe, it's more of a coach's job to
find the grey areas and work on them.

On a lighter note, I
absolutely agree with Andrew Flintoff when he says, "Amazing 4 Aussie
players banned for not doing homework. I thought letting them play in the next
Test would be punishment enough"

Mickey Arthur is setting a pretty dangerous precedent for the world of cricket. Imagine what would be the consequences if other people followed suit as well. Newspapers and tabloids could present similar headlines in the future as mentioned below :

Australia crashes out of the World Cup'15 in the league stage. Michael Clarke submits a detailed report; gets nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Infosys stock prices double after reports of negotiations between the Indian software giant and the Aussie players for outsourcing the task of creating PowerPoint presentations.

Just a few days left before India tour South Africa. Team India practice hard on the "Net". BCCI ropes in major software firm to help players create PowerPoint presentations on the Cloud platform.

BCCI modifies the selection criteria. Players need to pass 10+2 with a minimum percentage of 50. SC/ST/OBC need to secure at least 35%. Sachin goes back to school, says he would open the innings alongside his son after completing his class 12th exams

ECB impressed with the opening lines of the new Jeffrey Archer book. Archer is set to replace Cook as the new English opener.